IT'S been blamed for ruining Christmas for thousands, and hurling travel into chaos across East Surrey over the past few weeks. Now, the weather is guilty of causing a serious assault on residents' nasal passages.
A particularly bad stench has been hanging over Redhill today and over the weekend. Emanating from the Biffa landfill site in Cormongers Lane, the smell has wafted further afield to Reigate and Merstham.
A Biffa spokesperson confirmed to the Mirror that the weather - recent "unprecedented" heavy rain twinned with cold temperatures - is to blame.
She said: "We have been investigating the impacts that the recent heavy rainfall has had on the site as this is unprecedented.
"We currently believe the rainfall has saturated the top levels of waste which may be giving rise to the unpleasant smell that has recently been noticed. In addition, the cold weather does increase the odour noted from the site and this coupled with the saturated waste we believe is giving rise to the unusual odour.
"We would like to assure residents that nothing has changed in relation to the gas collection systems at the Redhill landfill site. These are checked daily and are running efficiently.
"At present we can only continue to investigate and discuss the options internally.
"We assure residents that we will do all we can to improve the situation."
The site takes household waste from across Surrey and parts of London, processing 700,000 tonnes per year.
